The film industry looks set to stride into the new millennium with all the vigour and vision it's been displaying for a decade or more now. Firmly in place as a creative force and important employer, it's an industry which has more than justified the hopes, money and energy invested over that time.

Enthusiasm for the increasing annual productions of major, and smaller, films and videos apart, an ever-growing number of festivals and awards support the industry. Where once there was Cork, there are now the Dublin Film Festival and the Galway Film Fleadh along with awards from such sponsors as Guinness, the Jesuits and Fuji.

At the hard core of training and educating those who would work in the industry are the schools, colleges and institutes running an ever-broadening number of courses and programmes. The range and variety covered in colleges such as the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, UCD's Centre for Film Studies and its School of Film, and DIT, among others, cater to the demanding and specialised needs of careers in film.

Then there is the growth of companies such as Screensearch, there to find work for those interested in TV presentation or acting in film or TV or simply filling in as extras. For the enthusiastic numbers who fancy a weekend immersion in the subject, the Centre for Film Studies in UCD is running an international, three-day Cinema and the City conference in mid-March. It's on from Friday to Sunday, March 12th to 14th, at the centre - phone (01) 706 8629/8327.